Cricket’s WTC cycle, especially final, needs to be a bigger & a far grander affair

IND vs AUS WTC finals day 2

London: If the five-day format is indeed the pinnacle of Test cricket and everything possible must be done in order to not only protect it but ensure it thrives, it is absolutely clear as of now that the patrons of the game and all other stakeholders involved are clearly not doing enough.

If they were, the World Test Championship cycle would be a far better-planned affair and the final and grander event than just a one-off.

From the moment you begin walking into the lanes that lead to the Oval cricket ground in London, history begins to start reeking from every brick and tree. By the time you arrive at the gates that guard one of the oldest cricket stadiums in the world, proudly sporting the legendary ‘Sporting Times obituary’ on the walls outside, you know you’ve landed yourself at a place quite extraordinary.

For a venue and an occasion that ought to be held in such high esteem, and given that the property itself – the WTC final – happens to be in such nascent stages of existence, a lot more should be done for and around it going forward.

The Super Bowl is an example to pick from

To digress and give a modern-day example in sports, there’s no better property to learn from than America’s National Football League (NFL). At 105 going on 106, it’s the Grand-Daddy of sports leagues around the world, the vertex of where sport – the play itself and the play around it – has journeyed so far.

Eminem, the world’s biggest rap artist, did not get paid last year to perform at the Super Bowl, NFL’s annual playoff game. While NFL paid for travel expenses and costs related to production during the half-time show, the performance itself was more of a privilege. ‘Eminem is not coming to perform at the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is having Eminem over to perform.’ The difference.

The analogy is to compare what can potentially be done at the WTC, the highpoint of the world’s second most addressable sport on television after football and a game that’s seeped in 400 years of history.

The same can be said of how the BCCI and the Indian Premier League (IPL) too, but that can be kept for another day.

Time to make some space

The annual cricket calendar is indeed a packed one. Bilateral tournaments, T20 leagues, ICC events and other properties in order of acceptance fighting tooth and nail for windows, there isn’t much scope to fit in newer ideas until the old make way.

In a space this cramped, the game’s patrons must identify what kind of a window needs to be reserved for Test cricket to maintain its sanctity while ensuring that the property itself gives returns justifying every bit of the time and money poured in.

In line with this thought, why can’t the International Cricket Council (ICC) sit down to figure out if a month’s time can be kept aside once every two years for WTC? Why not have a festival of cricket at a venue chosen apropos of who makes it to the final? London, Sydney, Mumbai, Cape Town, Dubai, Barbados or elsewhere. Take a pick and plan.

The World Test Championship has got to be a three-match affair to help conclude a two-year cycle. Moneycontrol.com has previously mentioned in this writer’s column how ICC needs to take better calls in ensuring the number of matches each Test-playing nation plays the other in the qualifying rounds, or make the cycle itself a two-tier property and ensure more methods get applied.

Planning remains the crux of what can be done and in what can be truly done, the potential remains limitless.